Patented is an absorbent article, comprising a liquid-pervious topsheet, a foam-formed absorbent composite, with a first and second stratum and a transition zone intermediate and coextensive with the first and the second stratum. The first stratum contains hydrophobic fibers and a binder and the second stratum contains a binder and fibers selected from the group consisting of both hydrophilic and hydrophobic fibers and mixtures thereof. The transition zone features fibers from the first and the second stratum commingled uniformly across the composite’s width and length. A storage stratum comprises an absorbent fibrous material and an intermediate stratum is interposed between the absorbent composite and the storage stratum and the liquid-impervious backsheet.